Hurricane Sandy draws Genesee-Lapeer Red Cross workers to Virginia

GENESEE COUNTY, MI – The Genesee-Lapeer Chapter of the American Red Cross has dispatched three of its emergency response employees to the Eastern seaboard as Hurricane Sandy draws toward the Atlantic coast.

The New York City skyline and Hudson River are seen from Hoboken, NJ as Hurricane Sandy approaches on Monday, Oct. 29, 2012. Hurricane Sandy continued on its path Monday, as the storm forced the shutdown of mass transit, schools and financial markets, sending coastal residents fleeing, and threatening a dangerous mix of high winds and soaking rain. AP Photo

Janet Hamm, director of volunteer services for the local Red Cross chapter, said that the Genesee-Lapeer County chapter was contacted by the organization’s national deployment center and instructed to send its two-person emergency response team and its mental health worker to the Virginia region.

“The Genesee-Lapeer chapter is one of the few regional chapters with an available mental health worker,” Hamm said. “We have a standby of about 10 more people. We haven’t deployed any more out other than those three, but we could send many more depending on the amount of volunteers we have available and depending on the need.”

Carole Beauchamp, fleet specialist for the Red Cross, is part of the three-person team who was dispatched to Virginia from the Genesee-Lapeer chapter. Beauchamp will serve as the mental health chief for the Virginia region, but she could go as far north as Delaware of Maryland depending on the path of the storm.

Beauchamp’s husband, Dick, is also a staff member at the Red Cross, serving as the public information officer.

“(Carole’s) in upper-level management,” Dick said. “Generally, the upper-level management will all be there and they’ll have a team in place before the storm hits. Carole got there Saturday night and all of the flights were canceled around 5 p.m. Sunday, so no one else will be dispatched until the storm’s on hold.”

Dick said that he and his wife have been through deployment a number of times, and though he’s still not used to it, he knows that they do it to help save lives and assist people who are in need.

“This is her 30th time, so we’re not new to this, but there’s always a little unease knowing that that she’s going into the eye of the storm.”

Hamm said the chapter is still reaching out to its volunteers to see what how people they have available to send to the affected areas.

“I think the need is going to be quite high and widespread,” she said.